Lise Hand: 'Aras Four' left to plough their own furrow

If the President's discreet garda detail were on the ball yesterday, they surely must've noticed four individuals behaving peculiarly among the large crowd who had gathered to watch Mary McAleese perform her final official opening of the National Ploughing Championship.

If the President's discreet garda detail were on the ball yesterday, they surely must've noticed four individuals behaving peculiarly among the large crowd who had gathered to watch Mary McAleese perform her final official opening of the National Ploughing Championship.

For this curious cabal were lurking with intent. Sean Gallagher, Martin McGuinness, Gay Mitchell and Michael D Higgins were stationed like four corners of a wonky parallelogram in the field.

Perhaps each of the Aras Four was hopeful that Herself would do an impromptu walkabout in their vicinity, so they could touch the hem of her nice pale green coat or, better still, get a career-boosting handshake right in front of the scrum of cameras.

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